New sites [for the Knights who say Ni!]

I have my eye on the sorely neglected raised beds/walls next to the Job Centre on Camberwell Green. Someone gardened there at one point, there's some box and euonymous amongst the weeds, bottles and other detritus. This could be a great spot to relocate a bunch of yellow flowering plants, including fennel [which is SO great, but does need watering when it is first transplanted or it sulks to death] and golden rod. This would jolly up my time on the no.12.

 

Chef Solaire -  thinking of the Stories Mews patch, I can pull up some mint [a thug in open soil, but will cope with shade] and some michaelmas daisies [lilac flowers, v tough, copes with dry] and probably some white daisies [leucanthemum, tough, but wont want to be baked] and a pot of crocosmia [tough, self seeds, should need sun but seems ok with half-shade], I think I could also part with a pale pink hardy geranium [tough, self-seeds, ok in shade].

Also - I would love to make over that raised tree pit at the end of Stories Mews/bordering Champion Hill or is Dog Kennel Hill already? Huge potential for a maintainable marvellous flower bed. Atm it is so dry as to be undiggable but maybe it will rain as the temperatures dip over the weekend...

Ni!

Progress Report

Emergency weeding tackled and 2 x Liatris [gayfeathers] plus 1 x Dipsacus [teasel] added in. The Hollyhocks are monstrous - and really need thinning out and tackling with secateurs. I yanked off some particularly rusty leaves to let some light return to Euphorbia Wulfennii. Meanwhile the Geranium Johnson's Blue are in flower! As is some kind of oriental poppy [orange] and the Aquilegia [white and pink]. Thus it does look like a garden, even if it is one highly vulnerable to dryness [yes even now] and cooch grass [sp?]. The Sisirynchiums are all producing flower spikes even though they are small plants, probably desperate to get out that flower, and the mystery Euphorbia is out looking splendidly exotic. Photos not really up to par - taken quickly on a cameraphone and the weather is overcast...

Nasturtium Nights

A few days of sun, a little more rain, hey presto. Checked 4 sites around Camberwell Grove/Grove Lane and the seeds have germinated. Planted 2 more seeds in the tree pits opposite Johannsons [the Council have at last replaced the missing tree, alas with a London Plane rather than what I think was an Acacia]. Chatted about this to a couple of local hoodies, who asked me if I had planted a seed in the middle of the weed pit in the corner of the carpark at the back of Morrisons. Yes, I said.

Mystery Plant Revealed

Ok. Maybe not _that_ exciting however I think the prolific blue leaved plant that I have planted about 4 clumps of up the Dog Kennel Hill patch is Sisyrinchium (which apparently means 'pig-nose'). As suspected it is very hardy and drought resistant. So far my own clump - in situ for about a year - has not flowered, but my neighbour mentioned yellow spikes. Whatever, its a really useful structural shape and perfect for the patch.

Co-counselling

Today I had a dental appointment in East Dulwich. It was sunny for a change and I was bitter about doing something so dull [the cats were even more bitter]. Anyway, on the bus homewards I spied luminous jackets in close proximity to the patch... Oh hell, I thought, and leaped off the bus. Actually it was the same 2 guys I met last year and they remembered me. They mean well - and prefer the hollyhock forest to the over-bred, nectar-poor, polyanthus they have to put in. I did learn that the patch we have been guerrillering is 'not on the plan' from the council's perspective, that this strip of land is probably only as deep as is visible, that there were some kind of shrubs here previously but in a very dry year they all died. However.... yesterday in the rain R and I [mainly R!] battled the elements and planted a whole load of sunflower seeds in that very patch, now mercilessly raked over. We have also had the California Poppies forcibly 'thinned out'. Allegedly the council workers come every 3 weeks; next time its on with jubilee planting of petunias so hopefully our patch wont be worked over. Our renegade colours will be such a welcome contrast whenever that jubilee thing is on.

More Reasons to...

4 x Leucanthemum and 1 x Euphorbia underneath this lovely Magnolia...in the garden desert at the back of Morrisons, Camberwell Green. So far so good. I also noticed that there is a diggable tree-pit right next to the Crooked Well [which is a really great restaurant and cocktail bar]. I have mentioned the idea of a tub of herbs outside their doors but they are worried that anything not nailed down will be nicked. Ergo, plant direct. 
Leucanthemum, by the way, is the Shasta Daisy. This is the basic variety. I had a large congested mass that I assumed was ancient, divided it and now have several large masses. It flowers for ages. I havent taken it down Dog Kennel Hill because I think it will need more damp. If they get going I might judiciously prune that lower underbranch of the Mag.

Spring Fever

I've been back! The Hollyhocks almost frighten even me. They are really very keen, inspite of the rust. I tidied them up a bit, mainly where they were shading other plants too much.  In another month they will be in flower! I think there are a great many Hollyhock seedlings.... [Guerrilla Gardening anyone?] Must check regularly before Southwark brings in industrial help! There is some other weed too, which could be good, could be bad, could be trees... Any ideas? The California Poppies are getting away, with a few really needing more regular watering [supposedly it will rain tomorrow]. The Euphorbia and the Lychnis are the real stars at the moment [thanks Mum!]. I added in a cluster of the infernal Crocosmias [with several more pots to go...] and some more established looking Michaelmas Daisies. 

I am hoping that everything I've planted looks more like a plant than a weed in case any Council workers do happen to lay into it. And one more photo, just so you get a sense of my dicing with death. Normally, if it was me, properly, and I was spending money and thought on aesthetic concerns there would be some dark leaves for contrast. But all the plants are dug up from either my garden or that of my parents or neighbours, and if it can hack dry neglect it goes in. Looks a bit like a caterpillar.